A human mind is like a seed, from the time of conception. If you plant that seed of consciousness in harsh soil, the seed will either shrivel up and expire, manage to sprout but remain meager and wounded from constant attack from predators, or will manage to grow quite strongly but be riddled with thorns to repel and injure anything that tries to touch it. With a soil ripe with the conditions for fear, such is the outcome for a human mind. But suppose that seed is settled into fertile soil, it will surely grow and blossom despite the occasional deluge of a rain storm. With a soil ripe with the conditions of love, the human mind is invigorated with enough purpose and meaning to grow into something that will benefit other life, like bloomed flowers that benefit bees and other creatures (despite an occasional deluge of pain and difficulty).
What one should recognize is that this is not just a simple analogy. The same fundamental essence (some call "life-force," some call "Mu," some call "spirit," etc.) is behind the growth of a human mind as is behind the growth of a plant. This basic and singular essence of existence is consciousness-waveform-energy. The more coherent that energy-matrix is, the more influence it exercises over how energy flows within its surrounding environment.
So, a human being has significant influence to apply to their environment and, given the intention (choice) to, can provide a flower in their yard with just the right conditions for energy flow (in the forms of sunlight, water, nutrients) that result in it achieving its maximum blossoming potential. Likewise, if a human mind is provided the light of love, the water of freedom, and the nutrients of knowledge and wisdom, they will become the next Einstein, the next Buddha, the next Martin Luther King Jr., the next Gandhi, the next Steve Jobs, or the next Mother Teresa.
This is why it is senseless and unproductive to punish a person's future self for the behavior of the past. Their behavior was overwhelmingly influenced by the conditions that were prevailing at the time of the behavior – proximate causes such as poverty, isolation, neglect, abuse, addiction, mental illness, and miseducation. However, given the necessary social and environmental conditions are then provided that person, they will surely thrive and blossom as the best human being they can be.
